Hampton Wick, Sunday 12 July 2026.

Hampton Wick Royal CC 233-4 dec (38 overs: Jaden Mistry 52 ret, Mitch Lockwood 50 ret, Freddie Saville 50 ret) drew with St Anne’s Allstars 223-4 (42 overs: Oliver Slatford 50 ret, Anindya Roy 48, Sam MacDonald 37*).

Scorecard

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Anindya Roy, Garreth Duncan and opposition

12 July is an auspicious day in the English sporting calendar.  In the early hours of the morning, Jude Bellingham’s extra-time winner saw off Norway and sent England into the World Cup semi-finals.  On the cricketing front, it was on this day in 2009 when Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar formed an epic rearguard to save the first Ashes Test in Cardiff.  That day was also a landmark one for the Allstars, as we snatched a famous victory over Salix from an equally unpromising position. And on that anniversary, we threatened an equally improbable win in one of our greatest run chases, falling just 11 runs short but ultimately emerging with the most satisfying of draws.

Hampton Wick Royals are a new opponent on the Allstars rota, recommended by Richard Slatford who is very well known to them.  The club dates all the way back to 1863, and their ground in Bushy Park is beautifully maintained.  Their clubhouse was cruelly targeted by arsonists three years ago, but their plans for a new one have been approved and construction will begin shortly.  The club fields multiple Saturday XIs, and tailor their Sunday social team carefully to match the opposition’s standard, with a mixture of colts (and one filly) with their Dads matching us very closely in an absorbing game.

On another summer’s day which the Fast Show’s weather girl would call “scorchio”, Hampton Wick skipper Nick Dunmore won the toss and chose to bat first.  Samer Hafiz began nicely with the ball, maintaining control and extracting bounce and turn off the bone dry surface.  At the other end, Oliver Slatford also settled into a nice rhythm.  But Hampton Wick opener Mitch Lockwood was quickly into his stride – and on a lightning fast outfield, the boundary count begin to mount up.  Samer was not to be deterred, and he got the first wicket as Sam Diggins was well caught by Anindya Roy at point.

We were relieved to see the back of Lockwood as he retired on reaching his fifty, but left-hander Jaden Mistry proved equally adept. Parina Singh entered the fray, but she was soon on her way as she chipped Ben Hampton to Luke Dooley at cover.  Ben was working up a lively pace – but it was a freakish event which gave us our next breakthrough.  Mistry and Mandeep Singh ran two as Luke chased the ball down in the outfield – but his throw to Ben was awry.  Mistry went for a third run on the overthrow – but Ben was having no “buzzers” on his watch, and hurled the ball to the other end, where it bounced off keeper Slats’ pads and onto the stumps to run out the unlucky Mandeep. Hampton Wick were 102-3 in the 18^th over, and still threatening a big total.

Freddie Saville was the next man in, and started slowly before beginning to unfurl a few shots.  Mistry’s retirement brought in skipper Nick, and he too looked a handy batsman.  Jimmy Scott was putting his usual flight on the ball – his bowling was to rival Nick’s for threatening the overhead Heathrow flight-path – and it was he who took the next wicket, as Nick was brilliantly caught by Sam MacDonald, diving forward at slip.  I bowled a couple of overs as the declaration neared, and missed a skier off the final delivery.  Nevertheless, on such a good surface we could be very pleased to have restricted Hampton Wick to 233, and had every chance of being able to chase it down.

After a splendid tea, we set about the chase as Samer and Oliver opened the batting as they had done the bowling. Though Hampton Wick openers Safwan Sanusara and Isaac De Quintal both looked sharp, “OJ” went for his shots from the start, hitting particularly well both down the ground and over the covers – though he lived dangerously at times as a few aerial shots just evaded the fielders.  Samer also looked in good touch, though frequently unable to pierce the infield, and was to meet an old work mate of his, Dan Diggins, out in the middle.  It was his former colleague who brought about Samer’s dismissal as he played around a straight one and was given LBW – allegedly the first LBW decision I’d ever given out in my Allstars umpiring career, though Samer felt the bounce would have taken it over the stumps. 

The opening pair had given us an excellent start, and as Slats joined his nephew in the middle, they continued to chip away at the target.  Parina Singh had settled into a good spell, reminiscent of our old nemesis Maggie “the Cat” Page of Mighty Wanderers, and she got the second wicket as Slats slashed to point.  Oliver retired on reaching his fifty soon afterwards – but at the second hydration break (no booing please), we were 112-2 and still in with a chance of winning if we could keep wickets in hand.

Ben and Roy continued the good work, raising our third fifty partnership of the day, and with 10 overs left we required 74.  Ben, hilariously described by Slats as having “a big helmet”, was his usual positive self before being bowled by Mandeep Singh.  Roy’s batting improves with every innings he plays for us, and as he began to up the tempo, victory seemed possible. 

Sam, who had bravely volunteered to play for us despite incurring a nasty wound to his foot the day before, had a few sighters before he too hit the pedal, mixing deft sweeps with his favourite pulls.  But, although they didn’t have a good day’s catching, Hampton Wick’s ground fielding was superlative, and it probably made the difference between them saving the game and us getting over the line.  

35 were needed off the last three overs – but opener Safwan returned to strike a critical blow, as he bowled Roy just two short of his fifty and just as critically, left Sam stuck at the wrong end. Although he got the strike back to blast 18 off the final over, it wasn’t quite enough to see us to victory.  So a draw it was, and all shook hands and congratulated each other on a day when cricket was the winner.

This was a fabulous performance of which we should feel very proud, against opponents well matched to us, and we celebrated a great day’s cricket with drinks in their marquee.  Hampton Wick have everything it takes to become regulars on the Allstars fixture list, and we look forward to playing them again in 2027, by which time their new clubhouse will be in place.  But next on the list for us, we head to the lovely setting of Chiswick House on 9 August as we face Mighty Wanderers for the James Abrahams Trophy.

Barn Elms, Sunday 24 May 2026.

Karnataka Challengers UK 142-3 (20.4 overs: Sid Kothari 41, Amit Deverathippa 2-37) beat St Anne’s Allstars 138 all out (27 overs: Sreeram Balasur 26, Vipul Nanda 5-34) by 7 wickets.

Allstars Debuts: Roshan Bhusal, Sreeram Balasur, Tanai Mansingh.

Scorecard

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Ben Hampton, Garreth Duncan and opposition

It’s amazing to think 25 years have passed since a group of guys met up at King’s Cross station to travel to the Nottinghamshire countryside to play our first official game as the Allstars. Since then, we have welcomed over 350 players into our club, as one generation of Allstars followed another. We have toured eight countries in that time, and made friendships and memories to last a lifetime. It was fitting that the Bank Holiday weekend which marked our silver anniversary took us back to Barn Elms, where we had celebrated our first victory, over Rain Men, a quarter of a century ago. On this occasion, Karnataka Challengers, who we were playing for the second time, were too much of a challenge – but not without another spirited fight in which we gave our all once again.

On a day when the thermometer was pushing 30C, I won the toss and, much to the relief of all, decided to bat first. John Kingston and Raghavendra opened for the Allstars, with John dropping anchor as Raghav went for his shots from the off. He quickly crunched three fours before edging Challengers’ opener Roopesh Prabhu to the keeper. Sreeram Balasur, the newest of our Banbury contingent, began watchfully before upping the ante after the first drinks break, pushing for twos while piercing the field for boundaries. John also began to step up the rate before, with exhaustion finally getting the better of him, he was run out going for a tight second run. Left-armer Jayesh Shah was settling into a nice rhythm, and he ended Sreeram’s fine debut effort with a sharp caught and bowled to leave us 79-3.

Ross Blackmore, who has had a good start to life with the Allstars, carefully saw off his first couple of overs – but then he suddenly exploded into life, blasting Vipul Nanda’s first delivery for a monster six over mid-wicket before launching his next ball over long-on for another maximum. Our guest player from the opposition, Tanai Mansingh, also started well, the hundred was raised, and we were looking in very good shape indeed – only for Ross to perish next over as he went for another big shot and was caught at deep mid-wicket.

Ross’s dismissal proved to be the game’s turning point. Vipul’s first over had gone for 20 as he suffered from Ross’s onslaught – but with his nemesis gone, he quickly took his revenge in spectacular fashion. Amit Deverathippa was unlucky to be adjudged LBW, and next ball, our third debutant, Roshan Bhusal, was stumped by some smart work by Challengers keeper Sharva. Ben Hampton struck the following delivery straight to Sid Kothari at cover to complete Vipul’s hat-trick – but he still wasn’t finished with us. In his next over Tanai skied to extra cover, and two balls later I had my stumps rattled. Vipul had taken a five-for in the space of eight deliveries, and in the blink of an eye, 101-3 had become 112-9. But the last pair showed spirited resistance as Anil Kuriakose counter-attacked with some fine boundaries, and with last man Nathaniel Hill defnding stubbornly at the other end, they put on 26 for the last wicket before Nathaniel was bowled.

Defending a target of 139 wasn’t impossible, though we needed a good start in response. But Challengers’ openers Adarsh and Kothari came flying out of the traps, the fifty being raised in the 7th over. It was Amit, taking off his keeping pads to have a bowl, who gave us some hope as Adarsh was smartly caught by Ross at square leg. With Raghav also bowling skilfully, we got a brake back on the scoring – and Raghav’s slower ball to deceive Kothari was a thing of beauty, up there with Harmy’s dismissal of Michael Clarke in the memorable 2005 Ashes Test at Edgbaston. Challengers’ skipper Chaitanya Iyengar quickly came and went as he chopped Amit onto his stumps in the next over. But we just didn’t have enough runs to play with, and Dhritiman Sharma finished the job with a flurry of boundaries.

It was still a great day’s cricket, and we all gathered together – finally getting some shade after being out in the heat of the sun – before toasting our silver anniversary with the opposition in the Red Lion, where we had celebrated our club’s first win all those years ago. We have much to look forward to over the season and many more to come – and we begin again soon, as we get re-acquainted with our friend and Allstar Pablo Burgin and the Banbury boys in our inaugural fixture against WIng on 13 June.

Dulwich Sports Ground, Sunday 3 May 2026.

Mandarins 113-2 (22.4 overs, Jules Lowin 50 ret) beat St Anne’s Allstars 112 all out (31.5 overs, Gren Thompson 40, Anindya Roy 30) by 8 wickets.

Scorecard

Allstars Debuts: Mikaiil (Mak) Nuur, Ross Blackmore.

Report by Gren Thompson- Photos by Jimmy Scott and Gren Thompson

On an unexpectedly sunny Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon in Dulwich, the Allstars raised the curtain on their 2026 season. Based on how things began, one can only assume that the Allstars spent most of the winter walking under countless ladders, opening several umbrellas indoors, and spilling salt by the skip load.

After Mandarins won the toss and put the Allstars into bat, the 2026 season began with Allstars stalwarts Matt Biss and Samer Hafiz striding out to the wicket. It took only two balls for the misfortune to strike. An easy single to mid-off saw Matt jog through to the non-striker’s end. At that point, time and space conspired against the Allstars. The innocuous looking return throw back to the bowler collided flush with Matt’s face and, two balls into the new season, the Allstars were a man down with concussion-like symptoms. Only two balls later, Mandarins’ skilful opening bowler, Rob Eastaway, found a perfect length and late movement to nick-off Samer without troubling the scorers. One over, one injury, one wicket and only one run.

The new batters at the wicket, Richard Slatford and debutant Ross Blackmore, looked comfortable and navigated the next few overs without alarm. However, Mandarins struck twice in the 5th over. First, Ross mis-timed a drive and looped a catch to point. Slats was then run out by a direct hit from the Mandarins’ wicketkeeper Jules Lowin who expertly splattered the stumps from short fine leg.

Barathwaj Nagarajan and Anindya Roy steadied the Allstars innings with some fine strokes to put on a stand of 29 for the 4th wicket. However, again, a flurry of quick wickets pegged back the Allstars batters. Saad Hasan, bowling with good pace, sent two Allstars packing. Barathwaj edged a good delivery to slip and Ben Hampton got an unlucky grubber that snook below his defences and into the base of the stumps. From the other end, Harry Wigram clean bowled Allstars’ second debutant Mak Nuur, to make it 48-6. 

Skipper Gren Thompson joined Roy at the wicket, and together they attempted to push the Allstars score towards respectability with continued attacking intent. Roy was starting to look set for a big score before he missed a full, straight delivery from Nikhil Gidwani and was dispatched leg before wicket for a fine 30. With the Allstars languishing on 75-7, Matt attempted to return to the middle – but was still feeling the affects of his early incident and soon nicked a good ball from Abhijit Nair to slip.

That left Iain Wilson and Gren to counter-attack, and a series of firm shots and proactive running between the wickets brought up the Allstars’ 100. Yet, not long after the three figures were registered, Gren fell to a well held catch at extra cover, ending up with 40 off 36 balls. The ever-sprightly Jimmy Scott joined Iain for the last wicket – but another piece of excellent Mandarins fielding saw Iain run out for 6 and the Allstars innings closed on 112 all out.

In the second innings of the match, an excellent opening spell from Ben Hampton gave the Allstars brief hope of making a competitive game of things. Ben trapped Mandarins’ opening batter, Tim Baxter, lbw in the 4th over to put the hosts 7-1. However, the Mandarins’ top order proved too resilient and too composed for the Allstars attack and cantered towards victory while offering few chances to the bowlers. Late in the day Barathwaj found enough turn to trouble the batters and deservedly bagged a wicket when he bowled Mandarins’ other opener, Wahaj Siddiqui, for 36. A close to flawless 50 from Mandarins’ Lowin guided the hosts to an 8 wicket victory that rarely looked in doubt. 

In the spirit of an early 90s pop classic, things can only get better for the Allstars this season. Hopefully next week’s trip to Valley End will bring better luck and the first Allstars victory of 2026.